Nick Leake

Architected and evolved the Treasury Digital Design System, standardizing components across 32+ enterprise applications to ensure WCAG AA accessibility and usability. Spearheaded Section 508 accessibility audits and heuristic reviews, achieving compliance and reducing remediation rework by 50%.

Taught graduate-level courses in UX research, usability testing, prototyping, and visual design systems, maintaining a 95% positive evaluation score. Mentored emerging designers in product strategy, storytelling, and portfolio development.

Led discovery, research, and prototyping for a dozen agency clients in health, insurance, and finance, delivering validated prototypes that informed product roadmap decisions. Mentored 3 junior designers to strengthen team capabilities and foster collaboration.

Directed UX research, service blueprints, and UI design for an award-winning refugee case management system, reducing manual data entry by 70% and saving $10M+ annually. Facilitated design reviews and strategic workshops to ensure 100% compliance with federal security mandates.

Managed roadmap and sprint priorities for 3 concurrent projects, coordinating a cross-functional team of 12 engineers, designers, and stakeholders. Increased deployment frequency by 200% and cut time-to-ship by 50% across the project portfolio.

Designed GIS applications and Tableau visualizations to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Digitized and refined over a century's worth of climate data to monitor the health of U.S. waterways.

Led software teams making mobile applications and WordPress sites. Refined requirements, created mockups, and prioritized team backlogs and roadmaps.

Led design and development of the publishing platform powering the USA TODAY Network. Designed user interfaces that halved journalists' publishing time and conducted user research via contextual interviews and usability testing.

Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Communications from James Madison University in 2011.